An Arsoncliff Mystery

A new friend

The door opens and a guy walks in.
"Sophie you home?" He spoke softly.
"Yeah, I'm here" she says.
He walks inside, he looks a lot more harsher then how he speaks.
"Who's this?" He asks her.
"Curtis Zachary Joal, from Sydney, he's a reporter" she has me thinking, how did she know my middle name when I just met her?
"Well, Zach, Sophie here is my girl, and try to make a move on her and I'll-"
He stops in his track, as Sophie opens her mouth, "it'll be okay, Jason, I'll make sure he doesn't"
He nods his head, he looked like your average guy, short brown hair, trimmed beard and wore a singlet and shorts, similar to Sophie.
Jason grabs Sophie's hand and leaves, shutting the door behind them.
Better make myself at home, I tell myself, sitting on my bed, or as I like to say, couch.
I open my bag and pull out my notebook, there was a map of Arsoncliff with addresses on it, didn't know so many places here even existed. The Arsoncliff hospital, Wolflash Forest, full of man eating wolves, Arsoncliff Manor, where do I go first? Maybe Jake would be at work, so not a good idea to start there, and I'm not ready to face off a bunch of hungry wolves. What about Jakes boyfriend? Jack works at Waves, a seaside store for eating in and taking out.
I go outside the hotel, wondering which way to go, south? I think so. I start making my way down, with my notepad in hand, looking for directions.
Everywhere I went there were people, sick and dirty, or moderately wealthy, owning a business and a good house. There were homeless kids on the street, sleeping with rags for blankets, I want to help them, but I'm only one person.
I make it down to the beachside, it was quite chilly down there, which explains only few swimmers in the ocean. I look around for Waves, expecting a larger type of restaurant sort of thing, but in Arsoncliff, you never expect the expected. Waves was a small business run by Jack himself, it was a small size but large enough to fit in tables and a kitchen. I walk inside as a small bell rings, as a guy stood behind the counter.
"Welcome to Waves, how can I help you?" His voice seemed dry, he had dyed blue hair and a singlet underneath his work clothes.
"Are you Jack?"
"Yeah, who are you?"
"I'm Curtis, and I'm a reporter"
"Reporter? Listen buddy, all the news was covered years back, don't want to cause anymore drama, do you?" He looks like he hasn't stopped working in days, with the bags under his eyes and a broken voice.
"I'm not here for that, I just wanna ask you a couple things"
"Listen, I own this place, you're under my roof, I have hungry customers, if you're here to interview, give me an hour and order something at the least, otherwise, out" he says, pointing outside.
"Alright, what do you sell here?"
"Well, look at the menu, we got burgers to sundaes"
I have a look, Chicken Burgers, Full Beef Wrap, Australian Style Tacos, Apple Pie, The Aussimate Icee.
"What can I get for $10?"
"You can can every topping I have on a medium sized ice cream"
"A bit pricey isn't it?"
"I'm one guy Curtis, I need to pay the bills"
I hand him the money and take a seat.
"Order for Curtis" he says, putting the ice cream on the table.
"Thanks" I reply, digging my spoon into the dessert.

Soon enough an hour ticks by, as I filled in the time checking my notes and writing some new ones down.
"Curtis" Jack calls from the back room, "come" I get up from my chair, walking into the room and taking a seat. "What do you want to ask?"
"I have a few questions, but first can you tell me a bit about yourself?"
"My name is Jack Tick, I used to live in the Gold Coast next to a beachside store, guess that's why I work here, to revive memories. Got a bad reputation down there, soon got broke and had to move out, this was the only place I could afford. Moved here with a friend, for money reasons, we both work, guess that says a bit about me, doesn't it, overworked and desperate, I want to move, but not until I get enough money"
I nod my head,
"You've been through a lot, but may I ask, what's the worst thing you've seen while working here?"
He stops and thinks for a bit, then opens his mouth,
"A guy came in once, he wore a hoodie which covered most of his face, he seemed like a nice fellow. Under the darkness that the hoodie caused I saw some details of his face. It looked like he was wearing eyeliner, or eyeshadow, or something black was around his eye, with a bit dripping a bit below his right eye. He had a green hair, obviously self done. But the strangest thing was that his eyes glowed, like actually glowed. He had a short beard, like most guys here, and seemed to look like everyone else. But anyway with the story, he ordered like any normal customer, but something wasn't right, something was stuffed in his pocket, I didn't know what it was. But soon enough, my shift ended and I went into the room we are in right now. The door opened, he was standing there, he had a knife, I didn't know how he came in, the door was locked. He pushed me down, duct taped my mouth shut and tied my hands and feet together. He took his knife then started running it down my skin as blood dripped down. He then stopped for a few seconds, then laughed, he walked out as I attempted to get it off, which I couldn't. Then my friend came after he finished work, we went to the police, but they did nothing about it"
"Do you know the guys name?"
"Lou, Lou Welsh Sipher, the lizard man"